On Wednesday, September 25, 2024, the Fort Worth Country Day Lower Schoolers, staff, and more saw two trees fly.
The first was a 25-foot tall, 11 ¾ inch wide, 22,000-pound Chinkapin Oak, and the second was a 10-inch wide, 12,000-pound Bur Oak tree. Both were purchased from and brought to campus from Twin Lakes Nursery in Canton, Texas, which is about 104 miles away, in an oversized truck.
A team of about 20 people were directly involved in getting the tree vertical and in the ground, including crane operators, Linbeck (the construction company managing the building of the Lower School) crew, and more.
There were so many more people involved, though. The plan to bring this tree in has been formulating since the early stages of planning the construction for the new Lower School. The plan featured the Chinkapin Oak, affectionately named “Charles,“ or “Chuck” by Head of School Eric Lombardi, as the center focal point of the Lower School.
Chuck is estimated to be 20-30 years old. The tree was grown in a planter box and chosen by FWCD in March of 2023. The nursery kept it stored until the perfect time to plant it came along, which happened to be September.
The Bur Oak, named “Steve Leaves” by the Lower School students, is estimated to be 10-15 years old. The tree was grown in the ground at the nursery and dug up to be planted in the Lower School. As it was dug up, Steve Leaves went into shock and (ironically) lost all of its leaves. It is expected to make a full recovery soon.
The Chinkapin cost $11,000, while the Bur oak was $4,000. The crane to plant the trees was the biggest cost though, coming in at about $40,000, while the labor for the planting and moving the trees was $3,000, according to Wylie Dailey, who is a Senior Projects Manager with the Project Group, the company that has been managing the Lower School Construction project. In total, the project cost around $58,000.
The planting of the trees involved the use of a 500-ton hydraulic crane, which was rented and brought onto campus the day of the lift. The crane could be seen all the way from the football field and from most of the rest of the campus.
The crane picked up the Chinkapin first, and lifted it above the first and second grade wing of the new Lower School and to the center opening of the building. The crane was only using 70% of its total carrying capacity for the tree. A crane of that size was necessary, though, because the tree had to travel about 140 feet.
When one fourth grader passed by the crane on his way to the Lower School viewing spot (aka the canopy by the Fisher Dining Pavilion), he said, “Oh my gosh, it’s Bob the Builder!”
And he wasn’t the only one. Most of the Lower School students and teachers stood at the viewing spot as the tree was picked up and lowered into the ground. Excitement ensued after students spotted drones getting video footage of the event. More chaos erupted when the tree came into view over the building. Variations of the FWCD cheerleader’s football cheers were screamed. For example, “Let’s go tree!” and “Go big tree!” As the chaos continued though, the cheers were simplified to just “TREE!”
“I like how [the kids] chanted and I liked how excited about seeing [the tree] they were… I also think it’ll be fun to go out and read by it,” said Fourth Grade teachers Sara McCullough and Kelly Jenkins.
Chinkapin trees are known to live up to 250 years old, with the oldest one known to be 500 years old. The hope is that this tree will be the center focus for parties, events, and everyday life in the Lower School for many years to come.
